


Homeward Bound

by cakeisnotpie



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Hurt Clint, Hurt Clint Barton, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Prompt Fill, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-06
Updated: 2014-07-06
Packaged: 2018-02-07 18:31:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1909332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cakeisnotpie/pseuds/cakeisnotpie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint's on his last legs with nowhere to run ... so his heart takes charge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homeward Bound

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rennerandcats.tumblr.com](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=rennerandcats.tumblr.com).



Blood squelched in his boot with every step, his foot gone numb a good hour ago. Each shift of pressure was agony, the bullet in his calf working further and further into his muscle until it rasped along the bone. LImping, he kept going, one more step then one more, red footprints in the snow. 

His bow hung across his back, a weight on his dislocated shoulder that sent shooting pains with each joustle. He couldn’t use it; the skin on his palms was burned from trying to land the stolen plane while it was aflame. Every landing you could walk away from, if this could be called walking. 

Clint’s head was pounding; he’d slammed into the controls upon impact. One eye was swollen shut and he could barely focus on the trail … which he realized he couldn’t find. Just pine trees and shrubs and not a glimpse of the sun to tell him what direction he was going. He stumbled, dropped to his knees, and didn’t have the strength to get up. 

They couldn’t be far behind him. The crash had lit up the night sky, a beacon his pursuers were unlikely to miss. From the second those SHIELD files hit the internet, Clint had been on the run, flushed out of his deep cover in the most public way. He’d gotten no answer when he contacted those he trusted — Natasha, Fury, Sitwell — and he even tried to get through to Tony Stark but couldn’t get past the main switchboard. So he just picked a random direction.

First was the gunshot in Tangiers. Then the wrenched knee jumping off a bridge in Naples. By the time the assassin shot him in the leg, he was in Boston and he realized where he was going. It was sad, really, but he had nowhere else. In truth, it had all ended the day Loki came through that portal; he was just taking a really long time to die.

Cold and wet, the snow dropped from the branches onto his neck and woke him. He couldn’t feel his fingers, and his reactions were sluggish; he pushed himself up or tried to anyway.  His legs folded, a knife of agony as he feet wouldn’t bear his weight. He heard the sounds of approaching foot falls and fumbled for his knife but couldn’t close his fingers around it. Blinking, he tried to clear his vision, the man swimming in and out of focus.

"Clint?" 

This was it. Somehow Clint thought that death would be warmer. 

"Clint? Can you hear me? We took care of the HYDRA agents. You’re going to be fine."

Of course he took care of them. That’s what Phil did. Even in the afterlife, Phil was watching out for him. 

"Said you’d be waiting." Clint mumbled the words 

"Always," Phil replied.

* * *

 

The bed vibrated ever so slightly. Clint opened his eyes. 

"I dreamed I went to the cabin and Phil was there," he said to the unfamiliar room. 

"Just like we planned in the case of emergency. Although, technically, you didn’t make it all the way," Phil replied. "We picked up your message to Fury. Once I traced you to Boston, I knew where you were headed."

"Phil?" Clint turned his head. He struggled to sit up but a lance of pain drove him back down. 

"Lay still." Phil stroked his fingers along Clint’s cheek. "I have a story to tell you now that you’re safe. About dying and coming back to life and memories being changed."

 


End file.
